The published tongue weight sounds low. Without a good heavy object in the garage the tongue weight can be quite high. But every trailer is different. For example, with no cargo anywhere in the trailer my trailer weighs in at about 7800 lbs but the tongue weight is 1400 lbs. With my Polaris Ranger 900XP in the garage and no water the tongue weight goes down to 940 lbs.

Also, the chart is usually for a base model vehicle. Look at the sticker on your driver's door frame to get the actual cargo weight for your vehicle.

 

 

1,570 lbs is the weight you don't want to exceed. Every ounce of weight added to the truck deducts from that. I doubt that your trailer itself will consume all that weight. But you have to add in the weight of the hitch, anything in the bed, passengers, etc.

 

I think the 5.0 F150 will be fine. The 3.55 gear isn't ideal as the 3.73 is a better option for towing. 7500 lbs isn't a big load so I think you'll be fine. The 28' length is a bigger factor. I would certainly do a WDH with sway control.

I had a 5.0 2015 F150 for a few months and liked the truck. It was a daily driver for me as I had an F350 6.0 PSD as a tow vehicle at the time. I did tow some but only an open car trailer or a small camper. I know several people that have similar truck. They pull 20 to 24 ft. car haulers that weight somewhere in the 7 to 9K lbs range. Most don't complain.

If you are going to upgrade the truck and want to stay with an F150 get the EB 3.5 and the tow package. You'll love it. I know lots of people that have that combination and its probably the most capable 1/2 ton towing platform on the market.

 

Don't be fooled by that published tongue weight. That is when the trailer is empty and as it comes from the factory. Add propane and tanks, battery or batteries up front, and then figure 12-15% of the GVWR of the trailer. I think you will find that the 600 some odd pound tongue weight is now in the 1000-1100 lb range. That only leaves you roughly 400 to 500 lbs of additional payload availability. A good W.D. hitch is going take away another 75 to maybe 80 lbs of that payload. Depending on how many people you plan on putting in the truck, plus anything and everything else you load into or on the truck, you could pretty easily be over the payload capacity in short order.